By Anonymous
Photo:
Locate it on a map:
Sandy Creek; it’s between Enterprise Hall, Exploratory Hall, and the Shenandoah Parking Deck.
Interaction(s):
The human-environment interaction is between Mason providing a form of transportation for students and staff between locations. This is helpful for people who don’t have a way to get to campus and between locations or for people who can’t afford a parking pass. This can help cut down emissions as more people ride the shuttles.
Resource characteristics:
The environmental side of the interaction is air pollution. Studies have shown that 29% of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions are due to transportation (Federal Transit Administration, 2010). However, it’s known that public transportation can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It reduces emissions by providing low emissions alternative to driving, facilitating compact land use, reducing the need to travel long distances, and minimizing the carbon footprint of transit operations and construction (Federal Transit Administration, 2010). A private auto produces 0.96 pounds of CO2 per passenger mile, while bus transit produces 0.64 pounds of CO2 per passenger mile (Federal Transit Administration, 2010). As you can see, a bus transit can help by carrying more people to one location. Cars can carry more people, but most people use their car for themselves to go somewhere, especially during the COVID pandemic. I ride the Burke VRE shuttle to get to campus so that I can avoid paying for the parking permit. I sometimes talk with the bus driver, and he sometimes mentions he hasn’t picked up anyone for about 2 hours. Then I thought, this bus was producing greenhouse gas emissions for no reason.
Governance/user characteristics:
The human side of the interaction are George Mason students and staff using shuttles to get from one place to the other. Also, Reston Limousine is involved for George Mason renting these buses from them (Reston Limousine, 2022). Students and staff are involved by using these buses to get to campus and between campuses. If students and staff have their own vehicle, they can buy a parking permit that costs around $245 (Off Campus Student General Lot Permit), and it’s about the same for staff members. This helps students and staff to save some money or if they just need a ride to campus. As long as people need a way to get to and from campus, George Mason will continue to rent buses from Reston Limousine, and Reston Limousine will continue to see a form of profit while school is in session.
Social/cultural/economic/political settings or related ecosystems:
There are economic, demographic, and pollution factors in this human-environment interaction. The economic factors are George Mason students and staff going to class. Only people who have a Mason ID can ride the shuttles. To receive a valid Mason ID, students pay for tuition and staff working on campus. As long as people are paying tuition, then it allows them to have access to services like riding the shuttles. The demographics are people having different reasons to ride the shuttle, like not having a vehicle, not being able to afford the parking permit, people living close to one of the bus stops, etc. The bus will always emit greenhouse gas emissions, but its considered better when there are more people on the bus than a vehicle having one person.
What can we do?:
The main implication of this interaction between humans and the environment is air pollution. One way to help reduce CO2 emissions is by having more people ride the bus. When more seats are occupied, CO2 emissions get reduced. I think bringing more awareness about the shuttles can help because I really did not want to pay for a parking permit, so I was searching for an hour for other options. It took me awhile to find that I can go to Burke VRE and get on the shuttle to go to campus. There’s a good amount of people who ride the shuttle. In Fall 2021, there weren’t a lot of people, but this semester of Spring 2022 there were more people.
Another option to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation includes increasing vehicle efficiency, lowering the carbon content of fuels, and reducing vehicle miles of travel. On the Reston Limousine website, it doesn’t mention how efficient the buses are. But if buses use compressed natural gas over diesel, it can reduce emissions. Emission rates for the Compressed Natural Gas bus were approximately 60% lower than those of the diesel bus (Rosero, et al., 2021). The use of diesel in buses is gradually decreasing and natural gas and hybrid buses are slowly increasing (Department of Energy, 2021).
If relevant:
The university has information on their website, but they should bring more awareness to it. I feel like people know that the shuttles are there, but don’t know too much about them like the locations they stop at and if they can even get on.
Citation formatting:
Department of Energy. (2021, July). Alternative Fuels Data Center: Maps and Data – Transit Buses by Fuel Type. U.S. Department of Energy – Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. https://afdc.energy.gov/data/10302
Federal Transit Administration. (2010, January). Public Transportation’s Role in Responding to Climate Change. U.S. Department of Transportation. https://www.transit.dot.gov/sites/fta.dot.gov/files/docs/PublicTransportationsRoleInRespondingToClimateChange2010.pdf
Reston Limousine. (2022, February 24). SHUTTLE RENTALS & CONTRACTS. https://www.restonlimo.com/services/shuttles-contracts-2/
Rosero, Fonseca, N., López, J.-M., & Casanova, J. (2021). Effects of passenger load, road grade, and congestion level on real-world fuel consumption and emissions from compressed natural gas and diesel urban buses. Applied Energy, 282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.116195